by Logan Scisco
Receiving questions about the next presidential election is a usual occurrence in extemporaneous speaking. In fact, these questions appear weeks after the last presidential election is finished. This season you may have seen questions that ask you who the Democratic or Republican presidential nominee will be in 2016 or whether certain political figures like Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, or Paul Ryan are viable presidential candidates. You may have also run into a question about whether Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential candidate and if she can win.
Since these questions appear regularly in extemporaneous speaking, you must have a strategy for breaking them down and effectively answering them. This strategy piece will provide tips on how to answer two different types of presidential election questions: the “viable” candidate question and the “can (insert candidate) win the presidency in (insert year)?” question.
As a side note, for each type of question you need to make sure to compare the candidate you have received a question about to other people that are running! Extempers often fail to do this, but if you get a question about whether Rand Paul is a viable presidential candidate, you need to make sure to compare his chances of winning versus other candidates that will seek the Republican presidential nomination. It is also important to use historical parallels with these types of questions. Compare a candidate’s campaign to past campaigns that succeeded or failed and you will score points with your audience.